Pipes are structures often used as a conduit to convey (including to store or maintain) fluids such as water, fuel, air, and the like. Often, pipes (e.g., pipelines) are formed by using relatively short (e.g., small enough to be carried) pipe sections (e.g., which are cylindrically shaped and are often referred to as “cans”), where pipe sections are abutted end-to-end to form a conductive pipe longer than an individual pipe section. The pipes form a physical barrier for substantially reducing exfiltration of a fluid carried by the pipe and/or for substantially reducing infiltration of fluids and other substances surrounding the pipe. Often the pipes are laid in tunnels and/or trenches that are backfilled (and which subsequently might have structures built close by or even thereupon) such that inspection, maintenance, repair, and replacement of the pipe sections installed (e.g., buried) in such locations is difficult or even hazardous.
Materials (such as wood, concrete, metals, and the like) used to construct a pipe can gradually lose integrity over time. Pipes in use today (some of which have been in use over a hundred years) are subject to loss of integrity due to erosion, decomposition, forces such as pressure and torque, oxidation, acidity and the like. The loss of integrity can lead to outcomes such as fluid carried by the pipe is lost to the environment surrounding the pipe and/or substances in or around the pipe can contaminate the fluid carried by the pipe. Because of the numerous locations of the pipes (which often require inspection), opportunities for excavation and the available space to access the pipe for inspection (including various sections of the pipe) are often greatly limited.